


Dandelions

by Star_less



Series: P.O.R.T.A.L verse [3]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Accidents, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bed-Wetting, Brotherly Love, Comfort, Cross-Posted on deviantArt, Fluff, Gen, Hurt and comfort, Infantilism, Inspired by Mythology, Little!Loki, Marvel Norse Lore, Non-Sexual Age Play, Not Canon Compliant, One Shot, References to Norse Religion & Lore, Silly, all relationships strictly platonic, alternate universe - littles are known, baby Loki, caregiver thor, mentions of Loki’s childhood, set after TDW
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-16
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2019-08-24 16:24:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16643639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star_less/pseuds/Star_less
Summary: Loki begins to have an ugly problem that rears its head at naptimes. He thinks that some of the old lore he heard when he was a tiny child holds the key in solving it.





	Dandelions

**Author's Note:**

> Quick, Loki centric, semi fluffy thing. Contains reference to bedwetting - click away if you aren’t interested.

“Alright you lot. Nap time.” Coulson decided, watching over the tired children as their movements began to slow. Naptime routines at PORTAL were remarkably easy... although that of course depended on what children were there. Tony was by far the easiest - settle him with a bottle of milk and a fresh Pull Up and he would be out for the count long before his friends. Bruce was happy to rest so long as he had a story to hear, and Wanda could get herself settled easily but fought her sleepiness valiantly to listen to whatever bedtime story had been chosen. The only one who resisted sleep entirely was the God of Mischief himself, Loki Odinson. The caregivers had shrugged it off as being Jotunn blood, that he needed an extra hour of rolling about like a wild thing before he could even think of settling... although admittedly Thor’s genius concoction of goats’ milk-and-honey helped somewhat.

But that introduced a new problem.

Loki couldn’t help it. It wasn’t his fault. That was what Coulson said, that was what Rhodes said, that was what big brother said, but... but that didn’t help. What... what did they know?! He... he was a Prince! He was a God! What sort of God wet their bed every night?  
Him, apparently. But he couldn’t help it. Just like he couldn’t help it when he woke with a start and... and his sheets were heavy and cold and wetness clung to his legs. No... no, not... not again!  
Just like he couldn’t help it when the traitorous tears welled in his eyes as he dragged another set of soaked sheets off of his bed and, creeping along, plopped them at Coulson’s feet with a look of deep shame. “It happened again,” he mumbled, head bowed, grimacing at his wobbly voice. This... was uncomfortable. He did not quite like the feeling of I’m-about-to-cry. Especially not in front of everybody.

“Oh, Loki,” Coulson murmured quietly, gathering the soiled sheets. “That’s okay. Go and get cleaned up. I will sort this.” He cooed. The caregiver had said this so often that Loki could recite it (albeit halfheartedly) but, nodding, Loki shuffled off. He returned, not in his pajamas but in his usual green-and-black getup and stood at Coulson’s side rocking on his heels and watching his soaked sheets be loaded into the open mouth of the washer. “What about naptime?” Coulson asked the small softly.

Loki shook his head. “I want Thor,” he snivelled quietly.

“Are you sure? I can—”

“I want my big brother,” Loki repeated, and this time he sounded slightly sharper; but the glossiness of his eyes and the wobble to his chin told Coulson that he was nowhere near grown up. Coulson stood, set the washer on, and ruffled Loki’s hair soothingly. “Okay,” he said, a hint of a coo breaking into his voice. “Let’s go and get your big brother.”  
~

“See you tomorrow, Loki!” Coulson smiled. Thor had arrived quickly and Loki had been lifted into his arms immediately upon arrival. The littlest God was laying with his head pressed into his brother’s neck, Thor holding him fireman’s-carry style. Loki whimpered, snivelling. He pressed himself further into Thor’s neck so as to not look to Coulson; Thor grimaced at the sensation of snot pooling and wondered, just for a moment, if Loki knew exactly what he was doing... “Bye bye,” Loki said drowsily, and then the brothers departed. 

“Thor,” Loki whimpered as he was carried, still nestled comfortably in his brother’s neck.

“Yes?”

It was quiet for a little while. “Can I practise some magic at home?” Loki said finally. Loki had no need to practise his magic, if he was being blunt, and both brothers knew that. But there was something about leafing through the thick tomes and reciting the spells within that enchanted Loki. It made him think back of a time when he was very small indeed, when Mother would (for she was at a loss as to how to begin comforting him) read him endless hours of charms and spells and magic to soothe him into silence. As he got a little bigger Mother would demonstrate them; and when he was the biggest he could be, he was allowed to practice for real. That was... long ago, now, but if Loki thought very hard he could still picture her alongside him demonstrating each spell. If he thought even harder, the sound of his voice gently and carefully calling out the names of each spell would be replaced by the softly melodic tones of his mother.  
...But Thor knew better than anyone else of Loki’s mischievous ways, and he usually forbade Loki to use his magic while he was feeling little. Not that Thor could actually stop Loki from using his magic... but the punishments Loki had been served for doing so certainly did. Nonetheless, while Thor had this rule in place, he also knew how much of a comfort magic was to his little brother.

“Yes,” Thor decided, and Loki felt warm. “So long as you’re careful.”  
~

And so, Loki practiced his magic when he got home. He practiced it just like he always did; sprawled out on his tummy in the living room, book spread out in front of him so he could pour over the spells and enchantments over and over again. Sometimes he would whisper the spells aloud and watch his fingertips tingle with green sparkles. In fact, he made sure to whisper as many spells out loud as he possibly could. If he didn’t, he would start thinking about earlier on when he had wet his bed, and then bad thoughts would creep their way in. Mama did not join him to look over his magic today. Perhaps because he was so distracted. But Loki did not mind, and he perused his spells peacefully until, flicking over a page in the middle of a book, something caught his eye. ‘Dandelions’ the book said, and indeed there was a picture of some dandelions. Which was most stupid, Loki personally thought. He was not an infant. This was not a picture book, this was a spell book, and did whoever wrote this book think he wasn’t clever enough to know what a dandelion looked like?! Norns he had been picking dandelions for years since—

Suddenly, it all became clear. Loki slammed the book shut and jumped to his feet. “Thor!” He gasped, tugging his big brother’s hand and shifting impatiently foot to foot. “Thor, I- I need to go back to Portal and see Mr. Coulson!” He pleaded. His big brother twisted on the spot, chuckled and simply patted his hair. “Mr. Coulson will be at home by now, little one. Portal is closed until tomorrow. You can go back tomorrow if you’d like.”

Loki nodded.

Yes. Tomorrow, things would work out.  
~

“Naptime, everyone,” came the familiar call and for once Loki was happy to go to sleep when he was asked. “Wait for me!” He called hurriedly from where he was crouched in the playpark, tearing a handful of dandelions up by the roots. He hurried back into the nursery with the yellow flowers clasped tightly in one small fist, and did not let go of them even as Mr. Coulson tried to cajole him into his onesie. 

“What are they, Loki?” asked Mr. Coulson as he eyed Loki’s closed fist. ‘They’ looked suspiciously like dandelions, specifically the ones that grew in the garden of the outdoor playpark.

“Dandelions!” Loki trilled, chin jutting in the air. “I am going to take them to bed with me,” he explained, as though he was talking about something as simple as a childhood bear. 

Coulson frowned. “Loki, why on earth would you want to do that?”

“Wanda has her rabbit,” Loki mumbled pensively, mood quickly becoming dejected. His gaze went to the floor and, sighing, Coulson quickly followed. “Yes, she does. But you can’t take dandelions to bed, Loki, you’ll get yourself muddy. Why do you want dandelions? Are you going to take them home with you, for Thor?”

Loki blushed all the way to the apples of his cheeks. Thor...? Bedwetting...? Never.  
“They...” he clutched the blooms tighter, leaned in, whispered. “My mama told me they stop you from wetting the bed,” he explained softly, nodding. 

“Oh,” Coulson said in a tone that was all too apprehensive - pretty sure a clean pull up would help much better. Still, Loki came from a different world... “I- I’m not sure that’s how it...” he began. The wounded look on Loki’s face forced him to trail off. “Please, Coulson!” Loki whined, resisting the urge to stomp his foot. Coulson relented with a soft sigh. “Alright, I’ll find a jar. You’d better be in your pajamas by the time I get back,” he warned.

By the time he got back, with the dandelions resting in an old paint pot, Loki had done one better — he was already in his pajamas, in bed, half asleep.  
~

Thirty minutes later, his eyes snapped open.  
The bed was wet. He could feel something cold trickling down one of his legs, and the duvet cold and heavy on his lap. No. Loki quivered, eyes wide as he jumped from the bed as though it was on fire. There, right in the middle of the bed, was the telltale wet patch. _But... but, the... the dandelions..._  
Blurry though his eyes were Loki looked up at the jar that was sat just next to him, dandelions sat inside. They...  
Snivelling slightly, Loki yanked the wet covers off of the bed and trailed to find Coulson, all too aware of his cold, wet pajamas. “It happened again,” he said in his best matter-of-fact voice, choking back the quiver. _He was not going to cry again. He was not going to look even more pathetic than he already did. He was not going to cry._

“Oh, Loki. That’s okay,” Coulson said. On cue.

_He was not..._

Loki’s eyes welled up.

“...I’ll get this cleared up,”

_He... he was not..._

“Why don’t you go and change?”

“I want Thor,” Loki’s chin wobbled as he fell to weeping softly, unmoving. It felt as though he stood there for an age; an age of not moving, head back, snot and tears before Thor finally appeared and pulled him into his arms.  
Thor didn’t say anything, and neither did Loki. Only when Loki had the strength to pull himself away from his brother did Thor smile and look down.

“Brother, what’s the matter?” Thor cooed, as if Loki hadn’t been hugging him soaked from the midriff downward all this time. Loki did not speak until Thor had pulled him away from everybody - even Coulson and Rhodes.

“It didn’t work,” he mumbled at last, when they were alone in the corridor. His voice was prickled by confusion. “The dandelions... they should have worked...?”

“What do you mean, brother?” Thor asked, just as confused as Loki. “Dandelions?”

“Mother used to say that dandelions stopped you from... from...” Loki began, venom in his voice as he angrily whipped around to face his big brother. But he trailed off uncomfortably at the end of the sentence, somehow unable to make his mouth work, and hung his head. How... how could Thor not remember? He had to remember! He... oh, that was right, Thor was the _perfect_ one. No doubt he kept his bed pristine 

“Oh...” Thor responded softly in realisation, his expression softening from one of worry to one of understanding. Mother used to have a sort of... fable, perhaps, when Loki was small, that dandelions stopped young boys from bedwetting (and it had nothing to do with the napkin over his bottom, oh no) - but quite how Loki still believed (and remembered) it at his grand old age, Thor was mystified.  
“Little brother,” the God rumbled softly with a sigh. But he looked to his brother and couldn’t quite bring himself to totally break his fantasy. “Perhaps... perhaps they were not the right kind. You know, perhaps only the Asgardian dandelions are magical, not the Midgardian kinds.”

Loki sniffled but, after considering, nodded meekly. That made sense. Of course it made sense. Thor was his big brother and he always made sense. He clutched his brother’s hand in his own, suddenly anxious to rid himself of his soaked clothes. “Okay,” he whispered to his shoes. “Can I get changed now?”

“Of course, little brother,” Thor cooed, large hand ever a comfort on the small of Loki’s back as he ushered him toward the bathroom.

Hm. Thor thought. Perhaps he would have to tell Loki the truth about Mother’s little white lie eventually. He was, after all, very evidently in need of pull ups. Then Thor remembered the battle that had unfolded in his attempts to get Loki to drink... and reconsidered. 

...On second thoughts, Thor was not prepared to enter into a battle of wills with his dearest brother tonight. He would just have to lift Loki if he started to look too shifty. If Loki wanted to keep believing Mother’s years-old stories, then... 

so be it.

**Author's Note:**

> I heard as part of Norse mythology that they held a belief that weeds such as dandelions stopped you from wetting the bed. The flowers in those days were known as ‘pissabeds’, the etymology of the name coming from the fact that they had this effect. (Nowadays I’m sure that has been proven false, even though dandelions are still known as ‘pissabeds’ the foamy white liquid inside the stalks has diuretic effects and can actually make you urinate/wet the bed. Although my only form of entertainment as a child was to pick the damn things and me - and my bed - survived.)
> 
> I only studied mythology briefly in my first year of university so, disclaimer, my handle on Norse mythology and what Loki and Thor may have grown up believing is rather sketchy. Nevertheless I hope you enjoyed this for what it was :) 
> 
> Comments and kudos are very much appreciated. They keep me doing what I do - writing silly things like this!


End file.
